Ambiguous Subject: the “Masses” (qunzhong) Discourse in Modern China

Cultura ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-156
Author(s):  
Lifeng LI
Keyword(s):  
Mass Movement ◽  
Historical Materialism ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Modern China ◽  
Mass Psychology ◽  
The People ◽  
Social Elites ◽  
Intellectual Traditions ◽  
Dynamic Forces ◽  
The Masses

Abstract The “masses”(qunzhong ) discourse in modern China was influenced by two western intellectual traditions, i.e., mass psychology and historical materialism. The former regards the masses as a blind, impulsive, and irrational crowd, while the latter thinks that only the people are the real dynamic forces of historical development. As a result, the “masses” discourse in modern China bifurcated into a negative one of “mass psychology” and a positive one of “mass movement”, both of which were employed as effective tools of political mobilization by different political parties and social elites. The concept of the “masses” was either the crystallization of the abstract “people”(renmin ) or the actualization of the ideal “citizenry”(guomin ). What is embodied in the concepts of the people, the citizenry, and the masses in modern China was actually an ambiguous image of a political subject.

scholarly journals Strategi Mobilisasi Politik pada Pemilu 2019 di Indonesia

POLITEA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Nevy Rusmarina Dewi ◽  
Mufarikhin Mufarikhin ◽  
Dinda Alfiatur Rohmaniah
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Communication Media ◽  
Legislative Elections ◽  
The People ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Masses

<p class="07KatakunciKeywords"><span class="06IsiAbstrakChar"><span lang="EN-GB">Democracy in Indonesia has developed rapidly after the reformation, this is evidenced by the improvement in the implementation of the democratic party event. The 2019 election is an election held simultaneously between legislative elections and the presidential election. Each party and party coalition presidential election support hand in hand to try to win the hearts of the people. Community participation is very important for the determination of the votes of both the legislature and the president. Each stakeholder seeks to influence the community by using mobilization efforts. Many of the mobilization strategies in this election were carried out by many parties. This study examines the strategy of political mobilization used in gaining votes in 2019 elections in Indonesia. Qualitative research methods are used to obtain results from research. The results of the study indicate that the strategy of political mobilization in the 2019 Election uses four strategies, namely: political identity, communication media, money politics, and the use of public figures. This strategy is very effective in influencing the masses in Indonesia. This is evidenced by the polarization between the two supporting camps, and the use of communication media, especially social media in the dissemination of information</span></span><span lang="EN-GB">.</span></p>

The Cause of the People: Sartre's Encounter with Lacan in Badiou's Theory of the Subject

Paragraph ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-204
Author(s):  
Andrey Gordienko
Keyword(s):  
Mass Movement ◽  
Philosophical Work ◽  
Political Status ◽  
Present Essay ◽  
Jean Paul ◽  
The People ◽  
Dialectical Reason ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Group Functions ◽  
The Masses

In one of his late interviews, Alain Badiou acknowledges that his concept of the event can be traced back to Jean-Paul Sartre's notion of the group-in-fusion, presented in the Critique of Dialectical Reason as a momentous historical irruption that dissolves the serial existence of the masses. Given the lack of engagement with Sartre in Being and Event, the present essay attempts to account for this unexpected admission by arguing that Sartre figures as Badiou's silent partner in Theory of the Subject. The centrality of Sartre to Badiou's first major philosophical work is evident in the mobilization of the category of destruction to supplement the structural dialectic developed by Badiou's other master, Jacques Lacan. In so far as the mass movement is said to effectively destroy the space of placement by forcing the evental presentation of the real, Theory of the Subject pre-emptively contradicts Badiou's subsequent attempts to deny political status to the group-in-fusion. The present article thus concludes that the Sartrean group functions as a veritable cause that commences the subject-process constitutive of politics itself.

scholarly journals Populist Becoming: The Red Shirt Movement and Political Affliction in Thailand

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Kyeong Seo
Keyword(s):  
Mass Movement ◽  
Charismatic Leadership ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
The Will ◽  
Personal Accounts ◽  
Populist Movements

In this article, I explore the ways in which political subjectivities take shape through populist mobilization and dissipation. While the rise and increasing electoral success of populist movements across the world are largely attributed to charismatic leadership that conjures the will of “the people,” much less known is how people become populist subjects at a particular historical juncture. By attending to personal accounts of participation and detachment in a mass movement known as the Red Shirts in Thailand, I explore how the politics of becoming that emerges from this movement obfuscates the conventional distinction between populist and democratic identification. The articulation of populist subjects’ aspiration and affliction provides a window into the undetermined aspects of political mobilization from the realm of the ordinary. บทคัดย่อ ในบทความนี้ ข้าพเจ้ามุ่งศึกษาแนวทางการก่อร่างสร้างอัตวิสัยทางการเมือง ผ่านการมีส่วนร่วมในการเคลื่อนไหวแบบประชานิยมตลอดจนการสลายตัวของการเคลื่อนไหวดังกล่าว ในแง่หนึ่ง ความสำเร็จในการเลือกตั้งที่พบได้ในหลายประเทศทั่วโลก มาจากการเคลื่อนไหวแบบประชานิยม ซึ่งโดยมากมักจะกล่าวถึงผู้นำที่มีเอกลักษณ์ มีความสามารถในการชักจูงโน้มน้าว และสามารถตอบสนองต่อความต้องการของ “มวลชน” อย่างไรก็ตาม การศึกษาเกี่ยวกับปัจเจกหรือผู้ที่เข้าร่วมการเคลื่อนไหวแบบประชานิยมผ่านห้วงวิกฤตการณ์หรือการเปลี่ยนแปลงทางการเมืองนั้นยังมีน้อย ในการศึกษานี้ ข้าพเจ้าอาศัยเรื่องราวและประสบการณ์ของผู้ที่มีส่วนร่วมในการเคลื่อนไหวทางการเมืองของกลุ่มคนเสื้อแดงในประเทศไทยจนกระทั่งปลีกตัวออกจากการเคลื่อนไหวดังกล่าว เพื่อสำรวจการเมืองของการกลายเป็น (Politics of Becoming) ที่เกิดขึ้นภายในบริบทการเคลื่อนไหวแบบประชานิยม ทั้งนี้ ข้อค้นพบของข้าพเจ้าทำให้ความเข้าใจต่อแนวคิดเดิมที่แบ่งแยกขั่วกลุ่มอัตลักษณ์ทางการเมืองแบบประชานิยมออกจากกลุ่มอัตลักษณ์ทางการเมืองแบบประชาธิปไตยนั้นสับสนยิ่งขึ้น ข้าพเจ้าเสนอให้เราทำความเข้าใจกับความสับสนดังกล่าว รวมถึงปฏิเสธการมองว่าความหลากหลาย ไม่เป็นระเบียบ ทวิลักษณ์ของความหมาย และมิติทางอารมณ์ความรู้สึกของผู้ที่มีส่วนร่วมในการเคลื่อนไหวแบบประชานิยมนั้น เป็นปัญหาที่ต้องได้รับการเยียวยาแก้ไข หากแต่ภาวะดังกล่าวเป็นลักษณะสำคัญที่ชี้ให้เห็นว่าประชานิยมมีส่วนในการก่อร่างสร้างอัตวิสัยแบบใหม่ การทำความเข้าใจกับความมุ่งหวัง ความปราถนา และความบอบช้ำของผู้ท่ีมีส่วนร่วมในการเคลื่อนไหวดังกล่าว อาจเป็นหนทางที่จะช่วยให้เราทำความเข้าใจกับแง่มุมใหม่ๆ เกี่ยวกับการเคลื่อนไหวทางการเมือง จากปริมณฑลของคนธรรมดาสามัญ [อัตวิสัยทางการเมือง การเคลื่อนไหวมวลชน ความบอบช้ำ ประชานิยม การกลายเป็น คนเสื้อแดง ประเทศไทย] 국문초록 본 논문은 포퓰리즘 운동의 확대와 해소 과정에서 정치적 주체성이 만들어지는 다양한 양상을 탐구한다. 포퓰리즘 정치의 전세계적 성장과 선거 정치에서 커져가는 영향력은 흔히 대중 혹은 인민의 의지를 결집시킬 수 있는 카리스마적 지도자의 성공과 등치되어 왔다. 그러나 과연 어떻게 대중 혹은 인민이 특정한 역사적 시점에서 포퓰리스트가 되는가에 대해서는 충분한 논의가 이루어지지 못한 바 있다. 이러한 문제의식을 바탕으로 본 논문은 태국 레드셔츠 운동의 흥망성쇠를 경유한 한 개인의 삶 경험을 탐색하고, 이를 통해 대중 운동에 기반한 되기(becoming)의 정치가 포퓰리즘과 민주주의에 대한 관습적 구분을 흐트러트리는 양상에 주목한다. 포퓰리스트 주체성을 고무하는 복잡한 정동과 의미들은 민주주의 정치를 저해하는 병폐가 아니며, 역으로 정치적 주체성의 새로운 형식들이 만들어지고 작동하는 방식을 핵심적으로 보여준다. 포퓰리스트 주체들의 변화에 대한 열망과 수난의 경험은 일상의 영역에서부터 정치적 동원의 아직 결정되지 않은, 불확정적 속성을 드러낸다.    

"Chairman Mao's Good Soldier" Lei Feng

2021 ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Dmitry Kuznetsov
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Mass Movement ◽  
Mao Zedong ◽  
Modern China ◽  
Chinese Media ◽  
Tiananmen Square ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
Helping Others ◽  
Good Soldier

The article examines the personality of &quot;Chairman Mao&apos;s good soldier&quot; Lei Feng — a soldier of the People&apos;s Liberation Army of China, who died tragically in 1962. On March 5, 1963, on the initiative of Mao Zedong, a political and ideological campaign was announced in China under the slogan &quot;Learn from Lei Feng&quot;. In order to consolidate the positive image of Lei Feng in the mass consciousness of the people of the PRC, the possibilities of culture and art were widely used. The largest-scale political and ideological campaign under the slogan &quot;Learn from Comrade Lei Feng!&quot; acquired in the first years after the death of Lei Feng and during the &quot;cultural revolution&quot; (1966-1976). In 1977 Lei Feng&apos;s study campaign unfolded with renewed vigor. In the 1980s, the mass movement gradually began to fade. The CPC leadership made significant efforts to preserve it in 1980-1981, to revive it in 1987 and after the tragic events in Tiananmen Square (1989). Since 2012, there has been an increase in this campaign. Currently, Lei Feng is the personification of altruism, volunteering and helping others, carried out on a selfless basis. In this capacity, the image of Lei Feng is used in the public discourse of modern China. The Chinese media constantly refer to stories, the heroes of which are ordinary Chinese — &quot;modern Lei Feng’&quot;. The cult of Lei Feng, persistently promoted by the CCP for decades, confronts the recently widespread facts of corruption in various (including the highest) echelons of political power.

scholarly journals Spirit Confronts the Four-Headed Monster: Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s Mistik–Infused Flood-Rise in Duvalierist Haiti

Humanities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 144
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Kain
Keyword(s):  
Close Association ◽  
Mass Movement ◽  
Urban Slum ◽  
Democratic Movement ◽  
The People ◽  
Church Hierarchy ◽  
Slum Dwellers ◽  
Intense Mass ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Literary Quality

To explore Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s rise from obscure rural Haiti to become the nation’s first democratically elected president—by a landslide—is to enter into a world and a swirl of events that reads like surreal fiction or magical realism. As a Catholic priest (Salesian order), Aristide was fueled by the religio-socialist principles of liberation theology, which emerged as a significant force in Latin America primarily in the 1970s and 1980s, forcefully and vocally advocating for the masses of Haitian poor mired in deeply-entrenched disenfranchisement and exploitation. As a charismatic spokesperson for the popular democratic movement in Haiti during an era of entrenched dictatorship and repressive violence, Aristide boldly confronted the “four-headed monster” of the Haitian power structure—the army, the church hierarchy, the tontons macoutes, and the wealthy elite. His seemingly impossible escape from multiple assassination attempts, together with the power of his colorful rhetoric and his close association with urban slum dwellers and rural peasants, led to a rising “flood” (or lavalas) that invested him with an aura of Spirit, or mistik, that in either/both the Haitian-embraced tradition of Christianity or vodoun (voodoo) served to energize and greatly reassure an intense mass movement arrayed against seemingly impossible odds. This article focuses on the rise of Aristide as the embodiment and voice of Spirit among the people and does not extend into his tumultuous secular years in and out of the presidency, having been twice the victim of coups (1991 and 2004); instead it focuses primarily on the years 1985–1990 and does not enter into an assessment of Aristide as president. Aristide’s own vivid narratives of this time, segments of his sermons, and later, passages of his poetry serve to bolster the literary quality or interpretation of this brief but vividly colorful historic epoch in the Haitian experience.

Serge Moscovici's "Réflexions sur la popularité des conspiracy mentalities"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Klein
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The People ◽  
Social Representation Theory ◽  
The Masses

This is a pdf of the original typed manuscript of a lecture made in 2006. An annotated English translation will be published by the International Review of Social Psychology. I this text, Moscovici seeks to update his earlier work on the “conspiracy mentality” (1987) by considering the relationships between social representations and conspiracy mentality. Innovation in this field, Moscovici argues, will require a much thorough description and understanding of what conspiracy theories are, what rhetoric they use and what functions they fulfill. Specifically, Moscovici considers conspiracies as a form of counterfactual history implying a more desirable world (in which the conspiracy did not take place) and suggests that social representation theory should tackle this phenomenon. He explicitly links conspiracy theories to works of fiction and suggests that common principles might explain their popularity. Historically, he argues, conspiracism was born twice: First, in the middle ages, when their primary function was to exclude and destroy what was considered as heresy; and second, after the French revolution, to delegitimize the Enlightenment, which was attributed to a small coterie of reactionaries rather than to the will of the people. Moscovici then considers four aspects (“thematas”) of conspiracy mentality: 1/ the prohibition of knowledge; 2/ the duality between the majority (the masses, prohibited to know) and “enlightened” minorities; 3/ the search for a common origin, a “ur phenomenon” that connects historical events and provides a continuity to History (he notes that such a tendency is also present in social psychological theorizing); and 4/ the valorization of tradition as a bulwark against modernity. Some of Moscovici’s insights in this talk have since been borne out by contemporary research on the psychology of conspiracy theories, but many others still remain fascinating potential avenues for future research.

The Social Life of Opium in China, 1483–1999

2003 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yangwen Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Modern China ◽  
The Political ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Major Theme ◽  
Opium Trade ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Opium Wars

The history of opium is a major theme in modern Chinese history. Books and academic careers have been devoted to its study. Yet the question that scholars of the opium wars and of modern China have failed to ask is how the demand for opium was generated. My puzzle, during the initial stage of research, was who smoked opium and why. Neither Chinese nor non-Chinese scholars have written much about this, with the exception of Jonathan Spence. Although opium consumption is a well-acknowledged fact, the reasons for its prevalence have never been fully factored into the historiography of the opium wars and of modern China. Michael Greenberg has dwelt on the opium trade, Chang Hsin-pao and Peter Fay on the people and events that made armed conflicts between China and the West unavoidable. John Wong has continued to focus on imperialism, James Polachek on Chinese internal politics while Opium regimes: China, Britain, and Japan, 1839–1952, the latest work, has studied the political systems that controlled opium. But the political history of opium, like the opium trade and the theatre of war, is only part of the story. We need to distinguish them from the wider social and cultural life of opium in China. The vital questions are first, the point at which opium was transformed from a medicine to a luxury item and, secondly, why it became so popular and widespread after people discovered its recreational value. It is these questions that I address. We cannot fully understand the root problem of the opium wars and their role in the emergence of modern China until we can explain who was smoking opium and why they smoked it.

scholarly journals The strategy of demagoguery in Donald Trump’s thankful speech

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Specific Strategy ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Views ◽  
National Convention ◽  
Local Strategy ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Linguistic Means

The article is focused on identifying local and speech strategies (tactics) that are subjected to the global strategy of demagoguery in American political discourse. The article concerns analysis of the definitions and synonyms of the term demagoguery. Such analysis confirmed the appropriateness of considering demagoguery as a specific strategy of political discourse. The results of the research ascertain that the term demagoguery is perceived differently in Ukrainian and English linguistic cultures. Ukrainians perceive demagoguery as a tool for deceiving and manipulation, while Englishmen think of it as of a method of leading a political game and broadening the voter base. The recipients of demagoguery in Ukrainian linguistic culture are uneducated groups of people, while in English linguistic culture the recipient is the people as a whole. Demagoguery as a specific strategy of political discourse is mainly used to influence the electorate through appealing to the feelings, instincts, and prejudices and through forming required political views and preferences. The analysis of the American sociologists’ works enabled us to identify the main features of demagoguery. They are the following: the focus on broadening the audience, using propaganda for manipulating the masses and entertaining character. Analysis of empirical evidence, Donald Trump's thankful speech, which was given at the Republican national convention in 2016, allows us to single out local strategies of demagoguery. The local strategies of demagoguery, which are typical for American political discourse, are the following: populism, manipulation, subjectivation, fascination, and information simplification. Moreover, the article identifies and describes speech tactics that are typical for each local strategy. Among them, there are tactics of empty promises, lies, accusing, ridicule, using slogans, vulgarization, intimidation, and a tactic of finding a scapegoat. The research also concerns analysis of the linguistic means used for the realization of every local strategy and speech tactic. The most frequently used linguistic means are usage of expressive language with positive and negative meaning, repetition, anthroponomy, and subjectivation.

scholarly journals Masyarakat Sipil dan Gerakan Politik: Studi Kasus Reformasi Bahrain

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-99
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Mass Movement ◽  
Social Law ◽  
Charles Tilly ◽  
The People ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Step Down ◽  
Great Mass

In early 2011, countries in the Middle East and North Africa experienced a great mass movement that demanded their country leader to step down. Bahrain was one of the countries that experienced a mass movement, where the people of Bahrain demanded a government reformation that was considered authoritarian, repressive, and discriminative. The reformation that was wanted a change within the fields of politics, social, law and economy. This research aims to determine what factors causes the eruption of the mass movement in Bahrain on 2011. The writer used the concepts that the writer used to examine the problem using the concept mass movement by Eric Hoffer and the collective action by Charles Tilly and William Gamson. Based on the data there are and the theory the writer used, the factors that caused mass movement demanding reformation in Bahrain on 2011 are the disappointment from the people of Bahrain, the existence of organization and figure tha’s capable of mobilize the citizen, and also a special condition which is the mass movement that occurred in Egypt.

scholarly journals Advertising photography during the 1930s: Victor Keppler's strike cigarette campaign

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loreto Pinochet
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
The United States ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Budget Cuts ◽  
Advertising Agency ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
The People ◽  
Print Advertisement ◽  
Colour Photography ◽  
The Masses

The Great Depression was a decade in the United States which was characterized by high unemployment, budget cuts and low income. Citizens, especially the working class did not have the financial resources to purchase the same amount of goods previous to this economic crisis. The advertising business took this opportunity to sell products to the masses, during a time when purchasing luxury goods were not a priority or even a possibility. This created many changes in how advertisements were produced and how they looked. Using Victor Keppler as an example, this thesis will describe how the advertising agency Lord & Thomas used colour photography for their Lucky Strike cigarette advertisement campaign, the Witnessed Statement Series. It will describe how the colour carbro print became the mass reproduced advertisement found in magazines and newspapers. The thesis will describe this process and the people who were involved in creating the final print advertisement.

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